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United States Patent |
5,219,300
|
Yagi
,   et al.
|
June 15, 1993
|
Connector with a terminal locking member
Abstract
The connector consists of a male connector housing with a resilient locking
arm, a terminal locking member mounted to the rear of the male connector
housing in two steps, i.e., a preliminarily engaged state and a fully
engaged state, and a stopper provided to the terminal locking member. In
the fully engaged state, the stopper is located below a control portion of
the resilient locking arm. When the male connector housing is unlocked
from a female connector housing, the stopper comes into contact with the
resilient locking arm to prevent an excessive displacement of the locking
arm and keep the locking arm free from damage.
Inventors:
|
Yagi; Sakai (Shizuoka, JP);
Tsuji; Masanori (Shizuoka, JP);
Kashiyama; Motohisa (Shizuoka, JP)
|
Assignee:
|
Yazaki Corporation (Tokyo, JP)
|
Appl. No.:
|
857003 |
Filed:
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March 25, 1992 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
| Mar 26, 1991[JP] | 3-018475[U] |
Current U.S. Class: |
439/352; 439/354 |
Intern'l Class: |
H01R 013/627 |
Field of Search: |
439/752,350-355,357
292/257
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
3097033 | Jul., 1963 | Felts | 439/352.
|
3639950 | Feb., 1972 | Lutz et al. | 439/350.
|
4655527 | Apr., 1987 | Van Dame | 439/350.
|
4708662 | Nov., 1987 | Klein | 439/353.
|
4950179 | Aug., 1990 | Takenouchi et al. | 439/352.
|
4993967 | Feb., 1991 | Matsumoto | 439/352.
|
Primary Examiner: Pirlot; David L.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Armstrong, Westerman, Hattori, McLeland & Naughton
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A connector with a terminal locking member comprising:
a connector housing having a resilient locking arm biased to an engaged
position for engaging a mating connector housing and displaceable to a
disengaged position;
a terminal locking member movably mounted to said connector housing in two
steps, said two steps including a preliminary engaged state and a fully
engaged state; and
a stopper provided on said terminal locking member, said stopper moving
into a position opposite said resilient locking arm of said connector
housing when said terminal locking member is moved to the fully engaged
state to prevent excessive movement of said resilient locking arm when it
is displaced from said engaged position to said disengaged position.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector mainly for use in connecting
automotive wire harnesses, and more particularly to a connector with a
terminal locking member mounted at the rear portion thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of conventional connector is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.
In FIG. 9, reference symbol a represents a male connector housing and b a
female connector housing. The male connector housing a is provided with a
double-handled resilient locking arm c having a locking projection c1
formed thereon. The female connector housing b is proveded with an
engagement frame portion d that defines a locking slot d1.
FIG. 10 shows the female and male connector housings a and b in an engaged
and locked state. From this state, a press is given to a control portion
c2 to displace the resilient locking arm c downwardly as indicated by the
imaginary line, thereby disengaging the locking projection c1 from the
locking slot d1 and attaining unlocking.
In the above construction, the force with which the resilient locking arm c
is pressed to unlock the connector housings from each other tends to
become unnecessarily large, resulting in excessive displacement of the
locking arm and frequent damages thereto.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention has focused attention on the above problem and provides a
construction wherein the excessive displacement of the resilient locking
arm in unlocking is prevented, resulting in no damages to the locking arm.
To achieve the above objective, a connector with a terminal locking member
of this invention comprises: a connector housing having a resilient
locking arm; a terminal locking member movably mounted to the connector
housing in two steps, said two steps including a preliminarily engaged
state and a fully engaged state; and a stopper provided to the terminal
locking member, said stopper coming into a locus of resilient displacement
of the resilient locking arm of the connector housing in the fully engaged
state to prevent an excessive displacement of the resilient locking arm.
When a force is applied to displace the locking arm in unlocking, the
locking arm comes into contact with the stopper at a fixed position.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view, seen from the front, of a connector housing
and a terminal locking member as one embodiment of the invention shown
separated from each other;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the connector housing and the terminal
locking member seen from the rear.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the connector housing and the terminal
locking member in a preliminarily engaged state;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the connector housing and the terminal
locking member in a fully engaged state;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing essential portions of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a cross section taken along the line A--A of FIG. 5 but showing
the connector housing and the terminal locking member in a preliminarily
engaged state;
FIG. 7 is a cross section, similar to FIG. 6, showing the connector housing
and the terminal locking member in a fully engaged state;
FIG. 8 is a cross section showing the connector housing and the terminal
locking member when being unlocked from the position in FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of conventional female and male connector
housings shown separated from each other; and
FIG. 10 is a cross section showing the conventional female and male
connector housings in an engaged state.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIGS. 1 to 4, reference symbol A represents a connector housing and B a
terminal locking member, each integrally formed of synthetic resin.
In the connector housing A, there are four laterally arranged,
longitudinally extended hollow terminal accommodating chambers 1 at the
upper tier with an intermediate space 2 interposed at the middle. At the
lower tier there is a row of six laterally arranged terminal accommodating
chambers 1. At the intermediate space 2 on the upper tier there is formed
a double-handled resilient locking arm 3 including at its front, rear and
intermediate portions a support portion 3a, a base rising portion 3b, and
a locking projection 3c and a control portion 3d, respectively.
The terminal accommodating chambers at the upper tier each has at its rear
portion an opening 1a laterally defined by neighboring separation walls
and directed upwardly as seen in the figures, while the terminal
accommodating chambers at the lower tier each has at its rear portion an
opening 1a directed downwardly. Each terminal accommodating chamber 1 has
a resilient engagement piece 5 that works as a first locking member for a
terminal lug C (FIG. 6).
Around the outer circumference of the rear end of the connector housing A
is provided, via a connecting portion 6a on either side of the housing A,
with a hood 6 with a continuous gap g interposed therebetween. The hood 6
has full engagement recesses 7 formed on its inner surfaces. Both of the
separation walls 4, 4 that laterally define the intermediate space 2 are
formed at their rear ends with preliminary engagement projections 8 that
face the intermediate space 2.
The terminal locking member B includes a main frame portion 9 and is
provided with a plurality of laterally arranged resilient support poeces
10 that extend forwardly from the upper and lower portions of the frame
portion 9. The free end of each resilient support piece 10 is formed with
a terminal locking projection 11 that projects into the corresponding
terminal accommodating chamber 1 through the opening 1a so as to work as a
second locking member for the terminal lug C.
The upper and lower portions of the main frame portion 9 are provided at
their rear ends with engagement plates 13 that are normally urged to
assume an upright attitude by resilient hinges 12. The engagement plate 13
is formed on its outer surface with projections 14 that engage with the
full engagement recesses 7 of the hood 6 to ensure full-engagement between
the connector housing A and the terminal locking member B.
A pair of laterally arranged stopper plates 15 are provided, via suspended
portions 15a, to the underside of the upper portion of the main frame
portion 9 and extend forwardly. The stopper plate 15 is formed, on its
surface on the side of the preliminary engagement projection 8, with a
longitudinally extending groove 15b for accommodating the preliminary
engagement projection 8 therein and with a preliminary engagement step
portion 16.
In the above construction, the terminal locking member B is coupled to the
connector housing A first in the preliminarily engaged state (FIGS. 3 and
6). The preliminarily engaged state is obtained by the following
procedure. The terminal locking projections 11 of the resilient support
pieces 10 are inserted through the openings 1a into the terminal
accommodating chambers 1 and the main frame portion 9 of the terminal
locking member B is inserted into the gap g, while at the same time
accommodating the preliminary engagement projections 8 in the grooves 15b
in the stopper plates 15 so as to have the projections 8 to abut against
the step portions 16. Thus, the terminal locking member B is prevented
from being accidentally pulled out of the connector housing A. In this
preliminarily engaged state, terminal lugs C are inserted into the
associated terminal accommodating chambers 2 and are firstly locked by the
resilient engagement pieces 5 from coming off rearwardly. In the
preliminarily engaged state, the upright engagement plate 13 abuts against
the rear end of the hood 6 of the connector housing A to prevent the
terminal locking member B from undesirably moving further into the
connector housing A.
When the insertion of the terminal lugs C has been completed, the
engagement plate 13 is set horizontal and the terminal locking member B is
pushed into the connector housing A until the full engagement projection
14 engages with the full engagement recess 7 so that the terminal locking
member B and the connector housing A are held in the fully engaged state
(FIG. 4).
In the fully engaged state, the terminal locking projection 11 of the
resilient support piece 10 engages with the terminal lug C to secondly
lock the same from coming off rearwardly, while at the same time the
stopper plate 15 comes into a locus of resilient displacement of the
resilient locking arm 3, which is located below bulged portions 3d' formed
on both sides of the control portion 3d (FIGS. 5 and 7).
In FIG. 7, reference symbol D represents a female connector housing, which
has been engaged with the connector housing A. In this engaged state, the
locking projection 3c formed on the resilient locking arm 3 engages with
an engagement portion 17 formed on the inner side of the male connector
housing-receiving portion 18.
FIG. 8 denotes an unlocked state in which the control portion 3d is pressed
to resiliently displace the resilient locking arm 3 and to disengage the
locking projection 3c from the engagement portion 17, at which time the
bulged portion 3d' of the control portion 3d abuts against the stopper
plate 15 to prevent an excess amount of displacement of the resilient
locking arm 3 (FIG. 8).
As described hereinbefore, a connector with a terminal locking member of
this invention comprises a connector housing with a resilient locking arm
and a terminal locking member movably mounted to the connector housing in
two steps --a preliminarily engaged state and a fully engaged state. In
the fully engaged state, a stopper provided to the terminal locking member
comes into a locus of resilient displacement of the locking arm and
prevents an excessive displacement of the locking arm, thereby preventing
damages to the resilient locking member otherwise often caused in
unlocking the male and female connector housings from each other.
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